Keytruda approved for combination lung cancer therapy

Following the results of a phase 3 trial, immunotherapy drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) can be used in combination with carboplatin and either paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel in patients with NSCLC.

The combination was shown to be more effective than treating patients with chemotherapy alone.

Keytruda is a type of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor. Such drugs are immune checkpoint inhibitors that block PD-1 and PD-L1 proteins that stop the body’s immune system from attacking cancer cells. They essentially disrupt the cancer cells’ signals, exposing them to the body’s immune T-cells for attack.

In the pivotal phase 3 trial of patients, regardless of tumour PD-L1 expression status, Keytruda plus chemotherapy (carboplatin and either paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel) significantly improved overall survival (OS), reducing the risk of death by 36% compared to chemotherapy alone.

Merck’s success marks the first time an anti-PD-1 treatment has been approved for first-line treatment of squamous NSCLC regardless of tumour PD-L1 expression status.